With ’Youngblood’, 5 Seconds of Summer reach new heights

LOS ANGELES — 5 Seconds of Summer were already in shock when their album beat out Beyonce and Jay-Z for the top spot on the Billboard 200 chart this summer. But having their single “Youngblood” reach the No. 1 spot on the pop songs chart and become an international smash hit has the band in awe.

“We really didn’t expect this,” said singer-guitarist Michael Clifford of the Australian rock-pop band, which includes Luke Hemmings, Calum Hood and Ashton Irwin.

“Youngblood” recently spent five weeks at No. 1 on the pop songs charts, which tracks Top 40 radio airplay. The track is spending its seventh week in the Top 10 on the all-genre Hot 100 chart, where rap songs have heavily dominated in the last year.

Clifford calls the hit song “authentically us” and said it allows fans to “see the real version of ourselves and our music in a very bold way than what we’ve delivered in other songs.”

“You can never predict the success of a song — you can only hope,” he added.

The band’s impressive year kicked off when “Youngblood”, also the title of their latest album, outsold Beyonce and Jay-Z’s “Everything Is Love”, giving the band their third No. 1 album on Billboard’s 200 albums chart.

Clifford admits the band was worried when the superstar duo released their album as a surprise a day after 5SOS’ album. — AFP